


you got me

by welcometobadlands



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Animal Shelter, Fluff, M/M, Muke - Freeform, luke adopts a cat, meet cute, non band au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-25
Updated: 2015-08-25
Packaged: 2018-04-17 05:13:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4653684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/welcometobadlands/pseuds/welcometobadlands
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke didn't plan to be in an animal shelter the next day. But, whether with Ashton's advice from last night in mind or otherwise, he ended up wandering into one after work the next day, regardless.</p><p>or AU where Luke is lonely, Ashton sucks, Calum works in an animal shelter and Michael is a hot mess when he meets Luke</p>
            </blockquote>





	you got me

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first ever fic so its probably really bad

Luke was lonely.

He's 21 and he lives alone; it's perfectly OK for him to be lonely, right? His apartment walls have gotten a little bit too close for his liking lately. Every day it was work, eat, sleep and frankly, he was getting tired of doing nothing. His life just seemed dull. He always thought when he was 21 he'd have his life together, not working at some dead end job and coming home to an empty apartment. Every once in a while, Ashton would drag him outside to do something fun. Other times, he would stay in with Luke and keep him company. But otherwise, Luke was by himself. 

"D' you know what you need?" Luke looked down at Ashton when the older boy spoke. His head was laying on Luke's thigh, both of them facing the TV and trying to find something to watch.

"I need you to help me decide on what to watch," Luke's eyes were back on the TV as he flipped through the channels.

"You need a pet," Ashton said, poking the part of Luke's thigh that he wasn't laying on. "You've told me, on multiple occasions, that you're bored and alone all the time. Which, frankly, is wrong because you have me. And I am not fucking boring, alright?"

Luke scoffed, his attention still on the TV. "We're literally sitting on this couch, watching shitty late night TV instead of going out or whatever. Compared to every other 20 something, we're pretty fucking boring, Ashton."

"Hey, no, that's only because we both worked all day and now I'm tired and I'd rather stay in," Ashton insisted. Luke stopped on some talk show he didn't recognize and set down the remote. "Sounds pretty boring to me," he mumbled to himself.

"No, but Luke, listen to me, a pet," Ashton said, clearly dropping the "boring" thing, "We've known each other since we were toddlers so I know you being a recluse and staying in this empty apartment all day will make you super mopey in the long run."

Luke couldn't really disagree with him, truthfully.

"So, get a cat or something," Ashton continued, "You like cats, right?"

Ashton turned onto his back to look up at him.

Luke thought about it for a second, "I mean, I don't hate them."

"There you go, see?" Ashton said, "They won't bark at night and they'll be OK if you leave them at home all day while you're at work. Plus, they don't need a lot of space so your apartment will be OK for it."

Luke just hummed in response and Ashton rolled back over to face the TV.

"Think about it though. It's a good idea."

\-------

Luke didn't plan to be in an animal shelter the next day. But, whether with Ashton's advice from last night in mind or otherwise, he ended up wandering into one after work the next day, regardless. However, Luke had to admit Ashton was right. His life seemed almost painfully empty and to be honest, a pet was sounding better and better by the minute. Fuck it, Luke might as well adopt something as long as he was here. It would make his life a little better, even if he'd have to hear Ashton say I told you so.

The second the door closed behind him, Luke could hear something start barking. One of the cages near the door had a little puppy in it, clearly excited by Luke's arrival. "Hey, buddy," Luke's knees cracked when he squatted down to look at the dog. It started pushing up its nose to the bars and wriggling excitedly. Luke smiled, reached in and scratched its ears. 

"Lola's pretty cute, isn't she?" Luke looked up at the boy standing next to him. It wasn't hard to tell that the dark haired boy worked at the shelter from his uniform and name tag. He studied him for a moment, took in his brown eyes and messy hair, then quickly read his name tag, _Calum_. Luke cleared his throat and stood up, "Yeah, she's adorable."

Calum reached down to pet Lola as well, "She's very well-trained and obviously likes people, if you're looking to adopt her." The puppy looked up at Calum lovingly, as if she understood the compliments he just paid her, and nuzzled her head back into his hand.

"Oh, I'm looking for a cat, actually," Luke's arm reached up to nervously scratch at the back of his neck.

"Oh, sure, of course," Calum started to lead Luke around the cages and into the back end of the store, "Our cats are mostly in these back cages over here. They've all had their shots, but not all of them are declawed so I would be careful with the big, gray haired one in particular because he scratches, _hard_."

"Alright, thanks," Luke moved to stand in front of the rows of cats, still slightly reeling from the idea of actually taking one home. He started to wander around and survey the multitude of cats in the shelter. Luke enjoyed the way the cats seemed to be in their own little world; many of them didn't even notice him walk by, others just gave him a lazy glance and went right back to whatever they were previously doing. Luke stopped to look more closely inside one of the cages. His face broke into a fond smile when he saw a tiny kitten rolling around in the cage. All of a sudden, the kitten stilled and turned its head to see who was spying on it. Luke cooed when the kitten startled and abruptly jerked upright to regard him with scared eyes.

"Aw, I'm sorry, baby." Luke continued down the row of cages until a doughy adult cat caught his eye. Luke stuck his fingers in between the bars halfway and wiggled them at the auburn cat curled up inside. His fingers couldn't quite reach the soft fur where he had jammed half his hand in but he kept wiggling them regardless. The cat inside regarded them curiously. And when it realized Luke's long fingers weren't harmful but just annoying, the cat started batting at his fingers. Luke chuckled when it moved to gnaw on his digits. He pushed his hand in a little bit more and his fingertips grazed the downy fur. Luke couldn't really describe it, but he could feel some sense of familiarity with this cat. Yeah, this one was the one he wanted. Luke carefully pulled his fingers away from the cat.

"Hey, Calum?" Luke called as he rounded the corner, looking for the other boy.

"Yeah?" Calum came out of the back of the shelter and walked towards Luke, "Did you find someone you liked?"

"Yeah, actually," Luke smiled at Calum, excited and scared about potentially bringing a pet home.

"Cool, I can take it out of its cage and let you hold it," Calum said as he dug a set of keys out of his pocket. "OK, sure, that would be cool," Luke face broke out into a full on grin as he followed Calum back to the area he just was in.

"Which one did you want to see?" Calum asked over his shoulder as he slowed down to let Luke show him which one it was. Luke pointed at the cat he just met, "This one."

Calum's eyebrows pulled together briefly, unnoticed by the boy next to him, when he saw the cat Luke had taken a liking to. But he quickly pulled his face back into a neutral expression and addressed Luke, "Oh, I love Harley. She's so sweet and I think she's the only cat that likes me here." Luke chuckled at Calum's sheepish grin that he threw over his shoulder as he bent down to slide the key into the hole

"So I take it you're a dog person, then?" Luke inquired as Calum cradled Harley in his arms. Harley meowed as she shifted in Calum's strong arms, not bothered too much that she was being picked up and transported.

"Oh, a hundred percent," Calum made his way over to a section of the shelter that was fenced off with a makeshift barrier and set the cat inside.

"Alright, she's all yours. Make sure she stays inside the fence. And when you're done, call me over instead of bringing her to me," Calum instructed as the lanky boy was swinging his legs over the fence.

"No problem," Luke smiled up at Calum as he sat down on the ground, legs crossed, with Harley. Luke was clearly excited to play with his new friend and already had a hand on her head, petting her.

Calum wandered away from Luke and around the shelter, only a little bit worried about Luke liking Harley. OK, he was a lot worried. On one hand, he instinctively liked Luke and Harley was getting older and consequently harder to be adopted so he wanted Luke to take Harley home. On the other hand, Harley leaving the shelter wasn't good either.

Before long, Calum noticed the lanky blonde approaching him again. Calum put on his best fake smile, in order to not let the other boy know about his inner turmoil. The older boy asked Luke how Harley was as he picked up to cat to put back in her cage.

"I really like her. I actually want to adopt her. Is there any way I can take her home today?" Calum kept his encouraging expression on and nodded as he put Harley back in the cage and shut the door.

"Sure, there are just some forms you need to fill out," Calum made his way to the counter at the back of the shelter with Luke following close behind, "There's also a 75 dollar fee for the adoption, too."

Luke began to pull his wallet out of his back pocket as Calum walked around to the opposite side of the counter. He reached under it and then slid a couple forms and a pen across to Luke. 

"I need to see your driver's license first, mate," Calum smirked when Luke began eagerly filling out the forms.

"Oh, right," Luke blushed as he sheepishly pulled out his license from his wallet.

"Alright, Mr. Hemmings, you are, in fact, over eighteen," Calum bit his lip as he leaned in to read Luke's license. Luke pouted as he took the card back from Calum.

"Hey, no fair. You get to know my last name but I don't get to know yours," Calum gave Luke a fond half-smile as Luke pocketed the card.

"Nu-uh, Hemmings, _you're_ adopting Harley, not me," Calum pushed the forms and pen back in Luke's direction. Luke's pout stayed in place as he grudgingly began to fill the forms out. He had only filled out his name and home address before he heard the door open. Calum's head perked up and Luke half turned around to see who the newcomer was, too.

Walking into the shelter was another boy roughly the same age as Luke and Calum. The black-haired boy took off his aviator sunglass and tucked them into his surprisingly soft looking denim jacket. Luke surveyed him for an extra second more than necessary, intrigued by his confident demeanor, and took in the blue and red streaks in his hair, his black skinny jeans and his black boots.

"Hey, Michael," Calum greeted the new boy, effectively snapping Luke back to reality. He turned back to the counter to fill out the forms. Luke didn't see the way Michael gave a small wave to Calum or how he made a beeline to the part of the shelter he and Calum were just in. Calum, however, had tilted his head a little bit downwards but purposefully kept his eyes trained on Michael, carefully watching him. When the older boy plopped down in front of one of the cages and opened it to take out a cat, Calum groaned. Luke looked up quizzically and watched Calum run around the counter and make his way over to the cat cages. Luke followed a few paces behind and found the new boys sitting on the floor with Harley in his lap. His tattooed fingers scratching around the animal's ears as Harley pushed her head into his other arm, rubbing her scent on him. Luke almost melted at how cute they both were but couldn't comprehend why this new boy was holding his cat.

"Mike," Calum drew out the nickname in a cautious tone.

"Yeah?" Michael looked up with a tiny smile but it fell when he saw Calum's expression and Luke standing behind him. "What's up?"

"Mikey, this is Luke," Calum said in the same cautionary tone.

Michael's eyes darted towards Luke. He gave him a gruff, "Hey," as he nodded at Luke, both arms still holding Harley. "Hi," Luke squeaked out.

Calum waited til he had Michael's eyes again before delivering the bad news, "He's adopting Harley and he's taking her home today." Calum grimaced when he saw Michael's jaw drop and snap shut. His grimace deepened when he saw Michael's eyebrows furrow together and his mouth turn down into a scowl.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Michael got onto his feet with Harley still in hand. Harley, whose attention was originally solely on Michael, turned to look at Luke and Calum like she sensed that Michael was distraught. "Does this asshole look like he can take care of a cat?" Michael gestured to Luke, "He looks like he'd kill her within the first week!

"Oi! Michael!" Calum returned his friend's scowl and the pair started to argue silently in front of Luke. Luke stood behind Calum, a little but hurt still utterly confused about the whole situation.

Michael let out a sigh; Calum clearly the one who won the argument. "Alright, lemme say goodbye first," Michael said in a much softer and sadder tone than the one he just used to scream at Luke. Calum nodded his approval and the other boy gently sat back down and in hushed tones started to talk to the cat in his arms. Calum pulled Luke aside and sighed.

"Sorry, man. He- just- he's just Michael," Calum ran a tired hand through his curly tufts of hair. Luke waited for him to continue.

"Michael comes to the shelter whenever he's sad or upset to just play with the animals. He's been coming for a while now, actually. Then, one day, we got Harley and he instantly fell in love. And I guess vice versa, too. He's actually the one that named her, you know, after Harley Quinn. Ever since then whenever he comes in, he just sits in front of her cage and plays with her right there on the floor. We let him open her cage because, well, he's practically the best thing that's ever happened to her. Look, he's my best friend, so just give him so space and he'll be OK."

Luke turned around to look at Michael and found that he had cuddled Harley up into his chest with his eyes closed. Luke thought he maybe even heard a sniffle but he could be mistaken. It was so weird to see the boy he originally thought was a such rough and tumble guy with his punk hair and tattoos, crying over having to say goodbye to a kitten.

Against Calum's advice, Luke walked over and sat down next to the other boy. He pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his chin on the tops of his knees. "Hey, man," Luke greeted him. Michael just lifted his head and gave Luke a hard glare. Luke was taken aback but he understood where Michael's anger was coming from so he tried again.

"Look, Michael, I'm sorry about all this but, I'm going to be completely honest with you here, I've never owned a cat before and, truthfully, I could use some help." Michael's eyes stayed downcast on Harley, refusing to look up at Luke.

"And I know how close you are to her," Luke continued, "So, if it wasn't too much trouble for you, would you like to help me move her in and make sure she's settled and stuff?"

Michael was quiet for a beat and Luke thought he had been rejected.

"Alright," Michael agreed, dejectedly. He wanted to keep Harley in his life and if this was the only way, so be it. Plus, he could make sure she was going to be OK after Luke adopted her.

"Yeah?" Luke's face broke out into a grin and he sat up a little bit straighter.

"Yeah," Michael confirmed, finally bringing his eyes up to met Luke's blue ones.

"Promise me you're not a serial killer or anything, right? Because I'm trusting you not to kill me when I take you to my apartment," Luke knocked his shoulder with Michael's, trying to lighten the mood.

"I dunno, I could be. You haven't taken me on a first date yet and you're already taking me to your house. This is a big risk, Luke," The second Michael said the words "first date", he instantly regretted it. It wasn't his fault, sometimes he just says stupid things around hot guys. Especially around ones sitting this close to him and with such pretty eyes and a cute little pinky ring. To make matters worse, Harley liked him, too. While they were talking she had crawled over and braced her front paws on his knees and meowed at him. Michael had practically raised this cat and she was betraying him like this? Honestly.

However, much to Michael's relief, Luke laughed without missing a beat. "I'm putting a lot of trust in you, huh? How bout this? If you don't murder me by the end of the night, I promise I'll take you out on a really nice date, like super fancy. That way you can't kill me, otherwise you'd be missing out on a super great date with a super great guy."

This time it was Michael's turn to laugh, "I spare your life for a nice date? Hardly a good deal, but alright. You got me."

**Author's Note:**

> creds to [this post](http://www.theappleppielifestyle.tumblr.com/post/113003159811/more-otp-hot-mess-aus-youre-lying-on-the-floor) for the idea!!
> 
> find me on [tumblr](http://www.ninetieszayn.tumblr.com)


End file.
